Darkness my blanket, even without the moonmy fingers read each object, which plant, tree I touched,this rough and warm, that coldly velvetand from a branch aloft breathing the dawnmy skin sensed danger:the silence of something rather than nothing.Before, perhaps all that.Now I know only that I love the woods.

Cicely Gill is a poet, playwright and novelist. She self-published a detective story, "Ivory" in 2013. She graduated from Oxford University many moons ago and now lives on the Isle of Arran in Scotland. Past careers include craft jeweller and eating disorders therapist. She married with two children and four grandchildren. She tries to write every day but life interrupts. Main interruptors are: involvement with the Community Of Arran Seabed Trust and the Arran Theatre and Arts Trust under whose aegis she is joint organiser of the McLellan Poety Competition. One of her favourite poets is William Stafford.